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Exposure Compensation Has Changed My Life

If you want to take a photo that’s properly exposed, look no further than the exposure compensation button, usually on the top right portion of DSLR cameras. As with most features of my camera, it took me longer than the average person to even realize such a control existed, let alone learn what the heck the control did. But once it clicked (no pun intended), I became addicted. Now there’s no going back. Now I use the exposure compensation control anytime I take photos, whether it’s in my kitchen or around the ranch.

I’ll try to make this explanation brief, and before I begin I need to refer you to the What the Heck is an Aperture? series on this site. If you have not read it, I’d recommend spending a little time reading the first three or four posts (begin at the bottom of the list and work your way up), particularly if you haven’t yet gotten comfortable with the whole subject of Exposure:

* Photography is all about light, and properly exposing an image has to do with letting just the right amount of light into the camera.
* The wider the aperture opening, the more light will enter the camera.
* The smaller the aperture opening, the less light will enter the camera.
* The slower the shutter speed, the more light will enter the camera.
* The faster the shutter speed, the less light will enter the camera.
* The higher the ISO setting, the more sensitive your camera will be to light.
* The lower the ISO setting, the less sensitive your camera will be to light.

And when you set out to take the perfect photo, you balance all of the above to attain the perfect exposure, i.e. just the right amount of light. All of the factors are important, and you need to understand them in order to achieve the results you want.

BUT.

But.

How come no one ever told us about exposure compensation? They’ve been withholding information from us, my friends, and it’s time for us to stand up!

I haven’t yet figured out who “they” are. But I’ll get back with you when I figure it out.

In another very small nutshell: The exposure compensation control is represented by a plus sign (+) and a minus sign (-), and it lets you to adjust the exposure measured by your camera’s light meter. You can dial up or dial down, and it usually goes from +2 to -2 in third-stop steps. So basically what this means is, you can set your camera to aperture priority or shutter priority or even auto. Then, from photo to photo, rather than adjust the aperture or the shutter speed or the ISO setting to achieve the best exposure, you just dial up or down the exposure compensation as needed.

I now use the exposure compensation dial as my primary means of adjusting the exposure of a photo. For example, when I shoot a recipe, I put my camera on Aperture Priority (where it remains 99% of the time) and set my ISO at around 500 (which is what I’ve found works best in my kitchen.) Then the only control I touch as I’m shooting the recipe is the exposure compensation, dialing to the plus side if one photo needs more light and dialing to the minus side if a photo needs less light. It’s absolutely, positively revolutionary and has improved my results—no question about it.

“But if you set the Aperture Priority and the ISO, why wouldn’t each and every photo yield perfect results?” you might ask. The answer is simple: light meters are imperfect. There are many situations in which the light meter on (in) your camera simply gets “tricked” and doesn’t yield the most accurate reading—if the subject has lots of bright light around it, for example. In the case of shooting a recipe, I’ve found that the most menacing subjects are those that are dark in color—a dark grey saucepan full of chocolate sauce, for example. Without fail, my camera will want so badly to “properly expose” the dark chocolate and saucepan, and the result will be a way-too-bright photo. So now, rather than switch the camera to manual and figure out the ideal settings to get the camera to read the dark properly, I simple dial the exposure compensation to the minus side a few steps (I’ll often go down to -1 or more for a dark pan of chocolate.)

When I first snapped this photo, it was a complete mess. The camera was trying to expose for the dark chocolate, and it wound up completely blowing out the light green cutting board…and the chocolate was way too bright. So I dialed back several stops until the meter calmed down and did what it was supposed to do.

This photo had a lot of weird things going on: the dark brownie (recipe here if you’d like to try it, but leave the gelatin out of the caramel topping), the light plate, and some hot spots on the brownie itself. The original photo I tried was blown out, so I wound up dialing back until it was right.

The exposure compensation gives you complete (and SIMPLE!) control over how much or how little light to “dial in.”

If you haven’t already discovered the exposure compensation control on your DSLR camera, I highly, highly recommend you spend a few days getting to know it. It will save your bacon, it will save time, it will save headache, it will save your photos, and it will save the world.

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Comments

i LOVE that little button! i can’t say i use it very often, but it’s amazing what a simple little thing like that can do to change the light quality in your pictures. yet another fabulous tip🙂

http://theniftyfoodie.com The Nifty Foodie

Thanks for sharing! I rarely use this button, for fear of messing up my shot, since I’m a beginner. I might have to play with this more often!

heathermm

I will give it a try.

weez

When are you giving away a DLSR? I want one!🙂

http://www.shewearsmanyhats.com/ Amy from She Wears Many Hats (missamy)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve accidentally pushed that button and was like “What the heck?!?” eventually pulling the manual out to get it to go off instead of actually trying to learn what it does. Those really dark or all white subjects are a booger for sure. The chocolate cobbler I did for TK, while very tasty, was a nightmare to shoot, and then I topped it w/ vanilla icecream – 2 extremes! This would’ve been very helpful to know. Thanks Ree!

http://stickyheels.wordpress.com Stickyheels

Wait, leave the gelatin out? Why? You didn’t mention anything about that in the initial post about the brownie…

http://www.katiepegher.typepad.com Katie P

Thank you thank you Ree! Never tried this button! I’d love it if you could do these kind of tutorials on all the different buttons you use regularly on your camera! I know there’s a zillion “right” ways to get what you want out of your camera – but as a beginner it’s nice to know how someone as accomplished as yourself gets the job done! A peek inside your process really helps!!! Thanks!

http://www.luvstrawberrycake.blogspot.com strawberry CAKE

Thanks I always wondered what that little +/- button thingy was but never wanted to take the time to figure it out. I will try it TODAY.

http://stphoto.wordpress.com/ Scott Thomas Photography

Now, you can not blame me. I’ve been singing the praises of exposure compensation (EV) for years!

Something you didn’t mention is cameras may come biased towards under or over exposure based on their programming. I found out mine underexposes. As part of my normal shooting, I set my EV button to +0.3. If there’s plenty of light, I’ve been known to have it as high as +1.0.

Can’t wait to try this out tonight! The light meter can be so frustrating sometimes.

http://sojoandco.com osarah

Glad you made that discovery! It’s really helpful, and just so you’re in on the lingo, the photog-speak term for what you discovered is “bracketing.”

http://www.portagesnapshots.com Taana

Ohhhh, thank you so much for the tip!! I’m definitely going to have to play around with that. I also shoot mainly in AV and I’ve noticed some blown-out spots on my picts. This should help a ton!

http://cuisine.palats.com/coinblog Balise

Yup, I remember a similar “a-HA” moment when I discovered this control a few months ago. Love it! :)

http://sojoandco.com osarah

Ok wait…I agree with Stickyheels – no gelatin? I was going to make those this evening. Should I skip the gelatin when I stop by the grocery store?

Kelly

I’d love to have a DLSR!

http://www.nslods.etsy.com Nicole

I am an amateur photographer, at best, and recently upgraded to the Canon Powershot G11. I noticed I had a funky dial on the top left side and wondered what it was all about. Until now, that is! I was doing a happy dance after reading your post, and am now super excited to give exposure compensation a shot!

I do have to say thank you for all of your other photography related posts, especially about aperture, shutter speed, and so on. They have helped me a great deal, and I feel I have a better understanding of how they all work together.

I’m looking forward to many more photography related posts! And recipe posts! And just plain fun posts! How about all of your posts??!!

http://www.crazysuburbanmom.com the crazy suburban mom

That is way more than my camera can do… And a bit more then I can comprehend in the morning but – I still can’t do it.

Can see the value of it, but can’t do it

http://www.ericalea.com Erica Lea

I LOVE my exposure compensation. I use it all the time. I only discovered it’s possibilities a few months ago. If only I’d known about it from the beginning.😀

Jenn

Cannot wait to try this out tonight – thanks Ree!

Lisa mac

Thank you so much Ree for explaining this. I have been experimenting as of late with shooting in manual and adjusting f stops etc. I’m still trying to figure this all out. I love your pics and so many of those entered in your assignments. I will now have to work on exposure compensation! Blessings from our homeschool to yours.

http://www.card-making-ideas-and-instructions.com C.C.

Ree, I adore you but must your photo tutorials include pictures of decadent foods like brownies and chocolate?!? And I thought this was the safe part of the site… lol 😉

I don’t use exposure comp as much as I should. It comes in really handy though if you’re trying to get pics of flowing water and get the water movement.
Suzanne

http://kingjsqueen.blogspot.com Elizabeth

I use that button a lot…but mine is immediately to the right of my eyepiece, making it difficult to stick my fingers in there while I watch the meter. Hubby gave me the add on battery pack for Christmas, which has the same button down at the palm of my hand. Much, much easier to work with.

http://www.whatmegansmaking.com megan

I just took my first photography class last night at the camera store I got my camera at in the fall (canon rebel). Thankfully, I’ve read through your tutorials, so I had a basic idea of what the instructor was talking about. But he talked us through the best way to shoot in manual – set your ISO (whatever makes sense to you), set your aperture based on your lens, and then focus on a neutral area and set your exposure! Exactly what you just said to do. I love it when things in my life make sense